By LETRE SWEETING

Tribune Staff Reporter

lsweeting@tribunemedia.net

SOCIAL Services Minister Obie Wilchcombe said the Gender Violence Bill is 98 per cent complete.

His comments follow recent high-profile cases of violence against women, including the murder of three women in less than a week.

Interest in the bill has grown amid reports of the crimes. Attorney General Allyson Maynard Gibson recently noted the bill was first drafted ten years ago and has not been brought to Parliament.

“We’re very near completion,” Mr Wilchcombe told reporters before a House of Assembly sitting yesterday. “We are 98 per cent completed. We have one or two matters to look into today and over the next week or so. Very soon we’ll have the domestic violence bill placed on the table of the House. It might not be that name, but that’s what it is. 

“We’re very pleased about it. I think it’s very progressive, it’s going to assist in the matters in reference to abuse. But we’re going to make sure that it’s put in play. And once it’s introduced, we want to roll it out in a way in which all the pieces are in place simultaneously.” The Gender Violence Bill would address abuse in various relationships, including marriages, but it is not to be confused with the Marital Rape bill, which Mr Wilchcombe said “is still a distance away.”  

When asked about the consultation process for the Gender Violence Bill, Mr Wilchcombe said: “The Attorney General’s office has been doing most of that work. They have been consulting. Once the bill is laid in Parliament, we will go throughout the country for a period, a short period, just ensuring that everybody in the country understands what the bill is all about. And then we’ll come back and debate the bill. 

Mr Wilchcombe said in the meantime, his ministry had spent a “considerable amount” of money creating shelters for women and children fleeing domestic abuse.

“Last month, we spent about $2.4m just on shelters that we are renting. It’s a significant amount of money and we have to find ways to reduce it.

“But we’re not gonna leave anybody out. I think everyone understands how we operate. We’re giving them sufficient time to go and search out a job. We want to put the human side into providing shelter assistance, and at the same time, helping the individual find a responsible job.

“I would love to get out of the business of having to build these safe houses, because if we can get rid of it, then we don’t need them. And that’s the bottom line. And that’s the way we’ll see progress made in our country. We have to get more of our people in less issues than they’re facing right now.”

Mr Wilchcombe said he is implementing a new protocol to transition some residents from their safe houses to other facilities.  

“A part of the protocol that we’ve put in place now is we will provide assistance and the amount of time will be three months in the first instance because we’re going to help everybody get jobs,” he said. “Because if we can get to working, then we’ll cause that transition.”

 Mr Wilchcombe said his ministry is partnering with the Royal Bahamas Police Force (RBPF) to create more shelters for domestic abuse victims.